


a string that can't be broken

by haarucchii



Series: where we go together (and where we separate) [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Season 6 Spoilers, Unrequited Love, shance is dumb and pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-15 00:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15400716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haarucchii/pseuds/haarucchii
Summary: the before, the after, and an interference,





	a string that can't be broken

**Author's Note:**

> i can't believe its almost been a year since I added an addition to this im sorry

**i. pining**

Lance finds him in the middle of the night, watching the stars pass in the castleship with a feeling that something more should be happening here. 

He sees the way Shiro’s prosthesis grips onto the railing so tight that if it were regular metal, it would’ve been crushed in a moment. His eyes are hard and Shiro’s jaw is clenched so tight with the vague idea that his head is hurting in a way that isn’t unbearable but still painful. 

“Shiro?” Lance asks, reaching out and placing his hand on Shiro’s shoulder gently to avoid scaring him. “It’s late.”

“Go to sleep, Lance.” Shiro says, tired. Exhausted. 

“Come with me.” Lance replies, voice still as soft and leading his hand down Shiro’s arm and intertwining their fingers as his end goal. It’s a moment of hesitance on Shiro’s side before he gives a slight nod and Lance leads him back to his room. 

It’s messy on the inside, and Lance hasn’t really stepped into here as often as he should since he spends so much time in Shiro’s room. Lance lies on the bed first and Shiro climbs in after and buries his face in the crook of Lance’s neck and breathes in. 

“You always smell so good.” Shiro mutters, and there’s a tightening in Lance’s chest.

_He isn’t Shiro._ Lance reminds himself. _Shiro would never love you like he does now._ “It’s my lotion.” Lance jokes, running his hand through the short ends of Shiro’s hair and humming. “How are you feeling now?”

“Better now that you’re here.” He says. He presses a soft kiss to Lance’s exposed collarbone and hums. “Am I not crushing you?” He asks, adjusting his weight so Lance doesn’t feel as grounded in this situation.

“You’re fine.” He smiles, laughs at Shiro’s surprised look. He leans down and places an awkward kiss on Shiro’s forehead. “Go to sleep.” He knows that Shiro can feel the rumble of his chest at the low words, by the way his eyes close and his breathing slows. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Shiro closes his eyes fully and breathes in, and out, slowly then evenly. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**ii. unrequited**

It’s a night when Lance is on his phone, typing out nonsense to a number that doesn’t work with a signal that isn’t there.

“It’s late.” Shiro— the real Shiro, Lance realizes, reminds him. “What are you doing?” Lance freezes the moment Shiro peers over his shoulder and reads the end of a message. 

_> >…Love you His feelings for you don’t even amount to how much I love you now._ Shiro thinks. He has the urge to just admit his feelings and pull Lance in but he knows his clone treated him weirdly. According to Pidge’s odd looks and Hunk’s uncomfortable shuffling. He knows that Lance might be wary around him now.

He would never return Shiro’s feelings at this point. 

“Have a good night.” Lance mumbles, pushing away and heading out the door.

“Good night.” Shiro replies, letting the door close on Lance’s way out before sighing and looking out the window. “I love you.” He says. 

But Lance isn’t there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**iii. realization**

Hunk doesn’t know what’s going on with Shiro, but he knows a heartbroken Lance when he sees one. 

Pidge does too, but not to the extent that Hunk knows. 

Hunk _knows._ He’s been with Lance for forever, and he can read Lance like the palm of his hand when he gets too into his head and ignores the others. 

Shiro approached him with questions of his clone and Lance, which, admittedly, was an awkward question to answer considering the amount of necking and cuddling they did behind doors. Shiro probably wouldn’t want to know that, because Lance felt uncomfortable himself even talking about it.

But what he didn’t expect that Shiro was hopelessly pining over Lance and the latter was avoiding Shiro like the plague. 

“He loves you.” Hunk says to Lance, who shakes his head and gives a sad smile.

“It was just his clone.” Lance whispers, before burrowing himself in his sheets and taking another cat nap for the day. 

 

 

He goes to Shiro then, with narrowed eyes to the white-haired man and sense of over protectiveness over his best friend. “How do you really feel about Lance?” He asks, seeing Shiro flinch and back away ever so slightly. 

“He’s been ignoring me.” Shiro says, simply. “I don’t talk to him, and he’s precious to me.”

_More precious to your clone._ Hunk thinks. “Anything else?”

“Why?”

“Do you hate Lance?” Shiro was also really dense and slow at questions. Maybe it was an Oblivious Gay thing, like with Lance and the clones obvious pining. 

“No!” Shiro exclaims, ears turning pink. “No- it’s the opposite, really. But it’s not like Lance would ever like me back like that.”

Hunk side eyes Shiro for a second. “Are you actually Shiro?”

“Why?”

Here we go again. “Because, you’re acting the same way your clone did with Lance.” Shiro’s eyes widen for a second before stepping back in surprise. “What is it? Are you actually the clone?” 

“No.” Shiro responds resolutely. “I’m not, I’m Shiro. But…” He looks out the door and hums for a second. “I have to go.” 

Hunk looks at the hypothetical trail of fire Shiro leaves in his wake. “I wonder what just happened.” He thinks outloud, before heading back to the hanger to continue coding for fun with Pidge. He hasn’t done anything fun like that in a while.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://www.haarucchii.tumblr.com)   
>  [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/haarucchii)


End file.
